FADE IN

EXT. SEVERIN CASTLE – NIGHT

SEVERIN CASTLE sits atop a hill surrounded by thick forests.

A castle under siege, moving torches glow all about the castle, bathing the forests in red. Ladders lean against the walls swarming with soldiers and a catapult launches flaming boulders. The hills echo to the BATTER of rams at the gates. Everywhere, men SCREAM and ROAR.

EXT. SEVERIN CASTLE – COURTYARD – NIGHT

Shadows criss-cross back and forth, their steel CLANGING throughout the courtyard.

On the sand of the training yard, ringed by a fence of wood, the PLAYER sprawls. Before him stands a large FIGURE covered head-to-toe in steel plate, sword unsheathed.

The figure steps forward. A CROSSBOW BOLT punches through the thick plate gorget. The figure drops.

STEPHEN EMERIC, 45, salt and pepper hair and chain armor, rises from behind the fence of the training yard.

STEPHEN EMERIC
Come on boy, it’s not safe here.

He steps over and scoops the Player into his arms. He runs to the oaken doors of the main hall. The doors slam as Stephen enters the keep.

INT. SEVERIN CASTLE – MAIN HALL – NIGHT

A forest green carpet leads further into the castle.

Stephen Emeric, carrying the Player, enters the keep. A dozen men, leather-and-chain armor, swords drawn, stand by the doors.

Stephen Emeric
Barricade the doors!

The men leap into action, barring the door with furniture.

Stephen Emeric sets the Player on the ground.

Stephen Emeric
Find your mother. She should be at the central tower of the keep, just down this hall. Go!

The player runs down the hallway towards the stairs leading up to the central tower.

A ram BATTERS at the main doors.

Stephen Emeric
Brace!

At the Central Tower

A spiraling staircase of dark stone, lined by arrow slits, winds its way up before stopping at a half-open door.

The Player climbs the staircase. At the top, light shines from the doorway.

Bookcases line the room. A large green rolled up rug leans against the wall.

A MAGIC CIRCLE covers the exposed stone floor. Leather-bound tomes and grimoires, dusty and yellow, lie scattered about.

EMMA FRANKOPAN, 28, a slender woman in white dress, dribbles chalk onto the circle. A wooden cross dangles about her wrist. She turns and sees the Player. Tears fill her eyes.

EMMA FRANKOPAN
My son, my son, come here.

She rushes forward and pulls the Player into a crushing hug.

Off in the distance, a door SPLINTERS and men CRY out.

Emma looks to the doorway. She shuts the door and pushes the Player into a nearby closet.

Emma Frankopan
Whatever you do, don’t come out. Don’t make a sound.

She takes the cross off her wrist and loops it around the Player’s neck.

She closes the closet doors.

Through the gap, Emma Frankopan kneels before the magic circle.

Emma Frankopan
Please. My life, my soul. Anything.

She CHANTS in a hushed, indistinct voice.

FOOTSTEPS on the tower stairs.

The door SLAMS open. Three SOLDIERS, steel caps, leather-and-chain armor, storm into the room, swords drawn.

SOLDIER #1
Witchcraft!

SOLDIER #2
Don’t let her finish!

The soldier stabs Emma Frankopan with a sword. She GASPS and collapses across the circle.

Emma locks eyes with the Player in the closet, lips moving silently. Blood pools out.

Soldier #1
Find the boy! He’s in here somewhere.

OVERTURNING FURNITURE. WOOD SPLINTERING.

HEAVY FOOTSTEPS approach. The closet door flies open.

Soldier #2
Found ‘im!

The soldier drags the Player out and throws him to Soldier #1

Soldier #1
You, lad, are coming with us. The Queen’s got a nice long rope for you to dance on.

Emma Frankopan stirs feebly. As Soldier #1 hoists the Player onto his shoulder, a light FLASHES. The soldiers CRY out.

FADE TO BLACK

Emma Frankopan
(pained whisper)
Anything.

FADE IN

INT. SUSEDGRAD CASTLE – DUNGEONS – DAY

Dirty straw covers the cells lining the central aisle. The DRIPPING of water echoes throughout the dungeon. Rats SCREECH as they scamper about.

GUARDSMAN #1
Rise an’ shine yer majesty!

Water SPLASHES.

Two burly GUARDSMEN stand before the Player, leather helms squashed upon chubby, grinning faces. One clutches a spear and the other a wooden bucket.

The guard with the bucket tosses it away. Both step forward and drag the Player to his feet.

Guard #1
Looks like his fever broke.

Guard #2
Was hopin’ he’d die. Would’ve saved us the trip to the gallows.

Player hangs limply between them with full control of head.

Prisoners in the nearby cells slowly rise to their feet as the guardsmen carry the Player out.

Guardsman #1
Ya think it’s actually him?

Guardsman #2
Who knows. Ten years since the Queen took his castle.

As the trio passes by one of the cells, Stephen Emeric, older and unrecognizable with a scar across one eye, steps up to the bars. He WINKS.

Stephen Emeric
God go with you, good sir.

Guardsman #2 smashes his spears on the bars.

Guardsman #2
Shut up!

Guardsman #1
He could just be some sod grabbed off the streets. A 200 crown bounty. Woooh. Could get me a real nice plot o’ land with that.

Guardsman #2
You idiot. Ya think the Queen wouldn’t know?

Guardsman #1
Fair point that. Nevermind.

The guards stop at a closed door with an iron-covered slot. Guardsman #2 BANGS on it with the butt of his spear.

The slot slides open. Two eyes peer through.

Guard #1
Gallows.

The eyes blink and the slot slides shut. A THUMP and CLANK and the door SCREECHES open.

The Guardroom

Three tables surrounded by guards fill the large, brightly lit room, lined with racks of swords, spears, and shields.

The guards cheer and groan as they throw dice and bet money. Nobody looks at the Player.

The Player climbs a set of stairs leading upwards, bright sunlight shining from the end.

Guardsman #1
Didja’ hear? There’s an army gatherin’ in Slavonia.

Guardsman #2
Aye. Talovac. Probably lookin’ fer his brother.

Guardsman #1
Ya think she’s beddin ‘im?

Guardsman #2
Probably. Poor man. Can’t say no to a sorceress.

The trio steps out into the castle Courtyard.

EXT. SUSEDGRAD CASTLE – COURTYARD – DAY

Susedgrad Castle squats in the middle of the city of Zagreb humming to the hustle of a dense city.

Ringed by thick stone walls, Susedgrad Castle’s courtyard bustles to the rush of dozens of servants, crisscrossing back and forth through the yard.

Young boys spar with each other in a training ring in a corner under the eye of a grizzled war veteran.

A GUARD CAPTAIN, in leather jerkin with sword at his belt, stands beside the castle gates, arms crossed.

The Guardsmen let the Player walk now. If he tries to deviate or stop, they shove him with spears.

The Player approaches the Guard Captain.

GUARD CAPTAIN
You’re late! The rabble out there’s gettin’ impatient!

Guardsman #1 snaps to attention.

Guardsman #1
Sorry sir! Won’t happen again!

Player goes out the gates into Zagreb Town Square.

EXT. ZAGREB – TOWN SQUARE – DAY

A wooden GALLOWS dominates the center of the Town Square, a plaza paved with gray bricks. Large two-story houses of stone and wood line the square.

A teeming mass of peasants form a crescent ring about the gallows, held back by a line of soldiers. An EXECUTIONER, with black hood and leather vest, stands at the top of the gallows beside a wooden lever.

Guard Captain
No beheading for traitors. You get to dance on the rope. Get ‘im up there!

The two guardsman shove the Player up the wooden staircase and to the top of the gallows.

The Guard Captain steps forward.

Guard Captain
The former lord of House Frankopan has been found guilty of treason. By order of her Majesty, he is hereby sentenced to death by hanging. Give the rebel a traitor’s death!

The Player is pushed to the front of a noose. Guardsman #1 loops it around the Player’s neck and tightens it.

A HOODED FIGURE appears on the rooftop of a nearby house.

The Guard Captain steps back and nods to the executioner.

The Hooded Figure pulls out a bow and knocks an arrow.

Guard Captain
Do it.

The Executioner nods and pulls the lever. With a THUNK and a SNAP, the platform opens up and the Player falls.

The rope comes to a snapping halt, and as the Player sways and kicks, the Hooded Figure releases an arrow that slices the noose. The Player falls to the ground, stunned. The crowd SCREAMS and ROARS, drowning out all other sounds.

The Player pulls the rope off.

The guards holding back the crowd turn and move towards the Player, but an arrow takes one, then another.

The crowd starts to turn and run. A long pathway opens up, leading through the Town Square and into a side street.

The Player runs through the parting crowd, guards giving chase, and arrives at the side street.

The Hooded Figure beckons from an alleyway.

Hooded Figure
Oi. Over here.

The Player follows the figure into the alley. Guardsmen CALL OUT from behind him.

The Hooded Figure rushes over to a door and pushes it open, pulling the Player in behind him.

INT. ZAGREB CITY – RAMSHACKLE HUT – DAY

As the door slams shut, the room plunges into darkness.

Hooded Figure
Shhhhhhh.

FOOTSTEPS outside.

Guardsmen #1
(O.S.)
You seen him?

Guardsmen #2
(O.S.)
Disappeared down this way.

Guard Captain
(O.S.)
Find him!

FOOTSTEPS fade away.

Hooded Figure
Excellent timing, wouldn’t you say?

SCRAPING. Sparks fly. A candle lights, revealing the bottom half of a hooded face and the vague silhouettes of a ramshackle hut.

The Hooded Figure smiles.

Hooded Figure
Welcome, Lord Frankopan. There’s a man who wants to speak to you very badly.

Hooded Figure
I hope you’ll accommodate him.

End Sample